Bio
I run engineering teams that are working out AI in real time, and I write about it here while it's still messy.
At home I have a wife, a daughter and a dog that I met in that exact order. Engineer turned leader. I build things and help teams build better.
Currently at Skyscanner, working on how technology, product, and people come together to make travel simpler.
What I write about
Mostly what happens when you run engineering teams through AI. Which tasks I hand over and which I keep, what it cost when I got that wrong, and the old processes teams keep running underneath the new tools. The view behind most of it is that AI adoption is a leadership problem before it's a tooling one. The older posts are about leadership from before AI turned up, and plenty of it still applies.
Short bio
For organisers and hosts, copy as is:
Ben Stewart is VP of Engineering at Skyscanner, based in Glasgow. He writes field reports at benstewart.ai about leading engineering teams through AI: what's working, what's breaking and what the data says, in plain English. He started his career writing SQL in 2006.
Timeline
Running a 250-engineer org through the AI transition.
Leading engineering across several product areas.
Scaled the organisation and how it delivered.
Joined to build manager culture and teams across several countries.
Ran teams in the UK, US and Malaysia for blue-chip clients including Asda, Marks & Spencer and Walmart.
Took on more teams and made them faster.
Took on people responsibilities for the very first time.
Built software and ran systems for large telephone and energy companies.
SCIENCE!
Began career writing code. SQL, .NET, and a lot of learning.
Host a podcast or run an event? Here's what I talk about. Anything else, email me.